Once the central panel of an altarpiece, this painting simultaneously depicts the Adoration of the Christ Child and the Annunciation to the Shepherds, shown in the upper right. To create clear spatial relationships, the artist employed overlapping planes and daring, if naive, perspective—most evident in the projecting roof of the stable. The setting of the narrative combines the Byzantine tradition of representing the Adoration in a cave with the Western iconography of a stable. This panel may have been flanked by single panels depicting standing saints.

Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 108.

Loseries, Wolfgang. "Altarpieces of the Adoration of the Magi and the Shepherds by Bartolo di Fredi." In Bartolo di Fredi; The Adoration of the Magi: A Masterpiece Reconstructed, edited by Bruce Boucher, and Francesca Fiorani. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Art Museum, 2012. pp. 40-63, fig. 24.